Forest of Flowers

Twenty minutes after the whole mess with Surtur and Valtor - they're calling on dead guys to try and kill her, how ironic - Bloom's in Gardenia city waiting in the Frutti Music Bar and talking to Morgana and Rick - they want to know how Roxy's doing, if she's safe, etc. Word about what's been going on has even reached Morgana - last year was a lot easier to see though - and they're both worried. Bloom's assuring them that Roxy was absolutely fine, last time she saw her - a few days ago, with Mrs. Griffin still trapped as a bird - and that's when Daphne and the rest of the Winx get in.

Daphne runs over to Bloom and immediately starts worrying over her - they could all sense Valtor's return, but only she knew exactly what it meant. Bloom tries to downplay everything that happened about half an hour ago, saying "I'm fine, mother dragon. No need to worry. I've faced a lot worse than two dead people before."

Daphne's not convinced in the slightest, and says "One of those two 'dead people' is partially responsible for Domino's destruction an my choice to send you to this universe, and caused me to think for two months that I'd lost the last bit of family I had! Your not-"

"Daph, look at me! I'm fine, see? No missing limbs, still got all my hair, and I'm still alive and free. Plus I told you all over the phone that I know where to find Eldora, so…"

Flora says "The plants in Eldora's greenhouse told me the Lenugia grows here in Gardenia. It's still a lot of ground to cover, but…how'd you know?"

"I smelled it here. In the forest. Long story short, it's when we took that spider into the forest."

Techna says "Oh. Well, let's go."

Morgana tells them they turned Tir Nan Og castle into a college for fairies, taking a cue from the Winx. Oh, and Nebula finally came to her senses about a year or so after the whole incident on Pyros - she'd been one of the first fairies to be captured, so she was maybe slightly more unhinged that most of the others. She'd gone to confront the Wizards personally, and the long battle ended painfully - and she loved her wings, Bloom can sympathize with that if nothing else. All in all, she got the worst time of it all and went just a little nuts - no kidding, she nearly destroyed Pyros and everyone on it including herself and all the Earth Fairies to kill the Wizards. As long as they stay away from her, everything should be fine - Bloom'll make sure to never mention the fact that she just saw three of them in Sibylla's cave. Or the fact that they kissed the other three Major Fairies.

As they're walking through the forest, after Daphne went back to Alfea to teach her class, Aisha's telling Bloom how she opened her gymnasium, which Grizelda found a tiny bit inappropriate for the Specialists and Winx to be working out together - that gets Bloom laughing hysterically. "If Grizelda thinks training to fight better is inappropriate, I can't imagine what she'd think of a feast in Asgard! Drinking, telling gory stories, more drinking, and eventually passing out in piles of people. How do you think she'd take that? Or Fandral and his posse of women that fawn all over him to do the slightest thing?"

They're all laughing so hard they have to hold their sides, and Aisha says "She'd have a fit!"

"I bet her face would turn as red as Ogron's hair!"

"And she's look like a fish for a minute, trying to find words to describe the sheer 'inappropriateness' of it all!"

They all burst out in another round of laughter, and then they start sensing an incredible amount of magic - seems you have to get close, very close, to not be affected by whatever cloaking or disguise spells Eldora used to hide herself.

They follow a butterfly that leads them further into the forest track, and soon they realize they're surrounded by Lenugias!

Aisha says "We've got to be on the right track! Eldora's house must be close!"

Like the woman's name was a trigger or something, dozens if not hundreds of Lenugias float up into the air around them, six land in their hair, and fly off into the trees. The Winx follow them, finding a veritable sea of Lenugias in a clearing with a house on the other side of a stream. The flowers part for them, and Stella says they should race - Bloom just manages to catch her before she goes over the railing of the bridge and into the stream.

A woman in a pink dress with gray hair comes out and waters her flowers, humming away and talking to the plants - must be Eldora. She's delighted to meet them, and they can all feel the magic coming off her easily - she's powerful then.

When she offers them some Lenugia tea, they all are about to drink it when they smell it first. Bloom quickly asks what a plant behind Eldora is - knowing full well it's a cactus - and boils away all the tea when she's not looking. The rest of the girls give her grateful looks, and pretend to drink up when she turns back around.

Bloom then asks "Eldora, can you tell us anything about the Legendarium? Such as how a girl with green hair named Selina came to have it?"

Eldora sighs and says "Yes, I can. Unfortunately. I found Selina when she was very young, could sense the magical potential inside her and felt she could use some guidance. I took her under my wing, was teaching her what I knew, and showed her the Legendarium. I brought it back here and began searching for a way to lock it forever, but Selina, she…she got curious, started reading the stories. It would have been fine if the last page was blank, or simply had just another story in it - it does not, though. The creator of the Legendarium, Acheron, lost control of it and got trapped inside of his own book. The last page contains his story. And while all the other stories are more or less content to remain in the Legendarium World, created by the book's magic and contained between its covers, Acheron longs to be free so he can wreak havoc and chaos. He tempted Selina with power, gave her a piece and made her the Witch of Snakes. Soon after, she took the Legendarium, pledged herself to him, and disappeared."

Musa says "Something tells me not even the Trix know the whole story. If Selina releases Acheron…"

"He's a powerful sorcerer, able to cancel the powers of anyone and everyone around him. And he can control people, which I suspect is why Selina chose him in the end. His power corrupted her, I don't think she really had a choice in the end."

Bloom says "Well, you can't extinguish the Dragon Flame! If Selina gets him out…wait, why hasn't she pulled him out like all the others?"

"The stronger a being is, the more power you need to take them out of the book. The one thing that's prevented his return all this time."

Aisha says "She pulled an Egyptian god out of there, how much more power could she need to get him out?"

Bloom mutters "You've got to be kidding…girls, I'll be right back. We've got some company. Of the rather clueless variety."

Musa sputters out a laugh, and Aisha asks "Want some help?"

"No, I'll handle them. You girls keep talking."

Eldora raises an eyebrow, and asks "What exactly am I missing?"

Flora says "Bloom's the best at fighting - so much so that she's practically impossible to defeat. Fights don't take very long anymore usually."

Bloom teleports outside, and sure enough the Trix are floating there - Darcy's commenting on the massive amount of Lenugias. "You know, I know you three are really hoping to kill me and all, but you must be getting desperate if you turn to a demon that occasionally looks like a man for help doing so."

They all jump and stare at Bloom in shock - Bloom swears she can feel the temperature drop twenty degrees and the air take on a static charge. Darcy says "This isn't possible! We sent-"

"Valtor and Surtur after me, I know. Too bad for you Surtur was too big and slow to actually hit me with that big weapon of his. And by the way - Valtor? Over it." She blasts them to the ground, ten feet away and with smoke curling off them, and says "It might have actually worked had you not given me amnesia last year, you know. As it is, I never did remember what exactly happened under Cloudtower. So the first thing that popped into my head when I saw him was 'there's two years of my life I'll never get back' - honestly, what did you think was going to happen? I'd faint from fear?" She blasts at Icy, who makes a shield that takes the worst of the blow before breaking and she gets thrown onto her back.

"Lose control and kill everyone?" A blast for Darcy, who barely manages to teleport out of the way in time.

"The reaction I actually had was laughing until my sides hurt and tears were going down my face. Because at some point all the failed attempts on your life get extremely amusing, and I've long since reached that point."

The three sisters try combining their powers - it barely pushes Bloom back a few feet underneath the shield she makes to block the attack. She then makes a blast that sends them onto their backs.

Icy groans and mutters "Selina, any time now would be great…"

A bunch of spirits in ragged cloaks appear out of nowhere, shooting rays of magic out of their hands that Bloom automatically deflects with her sword.

When she takes a swing that unleashes a wave of magic on them though, they turn transparent and it goes right through them. "Fantastic. Well, good thing I spelled my swords to pierce magic."

Stormy groans and crawls over to Darcy and Icy, sneaking a glance at Bloom fending off the Ectoplasmic Specters Selina told them about before they left. They're supposed to be impossible to touch - Bloom's sword is doing the impossible, slashing them in half whether they turn intangible or stay solid.

There's three flashes of bright white, and then nearly half of the specters disappear in halves - Bloom just cut them in half, that flash was her sword moving too fast for them to track.

Stormy mutters "There's got to be something or someone in that damn book that can beat Bloom."

Icy mutters "Let's get out of here before she decides to play with her knife as well. Shoot, teleport now, teleport!" The ice-witch looked over and saw Bloom draw her knife even as she was talking, and they disappear in a cloud of their magic before Bloom can throw it into one of their sides again - Icy's side still throbs in memory even now, that freaking hurt! Between Bloom's fire magic and the fact that she decided to use her side as a temporary sheath, Icy has no desire to ever get near that weapon ever again - particularly when it's in Bloom's hand.

Bloom slices the last of the specters to nothing, and then calls out "Alright, they're gone! It's safe to come out now!"

The rest of the Winx and Eldora do just that, and Bloom asks "Eldora, not to be blunt, but did you ever find a way to lock the Legendarium?"

"As a matter of fact, I did. But seeing as the Trix now know where my cottage is, it isn't safe here anymore. We should talk about this somewhere else."

Bloom immediately says "Let's go back to the Pet shop, we can talk there."

"Wonderful suggestion! Let me just gather up some Lenugias for tea, and…"

All the Winx share an alarmed look, and Bloom hurriedly says "Actually Eldora, its more than alright. We've got tea back at the shop, no need to trouble yourself."

AN: A slightly expanded description of how Acheron is controlling Selina, she can control the beings she pulls from the Legendarium - its how her powers work, right? And she got those specific powers from Acheron - so he's influencing her, as in the cartoon she changed almost instantly when he put that piece of his powers inside her. Will make sense why Bloom doesn't just kill her and be done with it in the end. Promise. Anyway, more chapters coming soon! Can't wait for Infinity War! So freaking excited! Finals are right around the corner for me, so please expect more chapters after around May 5 or so. Enjoy!